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\subsection{~Acknowledgments}
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The \ws\ wind wave model was started by Hendrik Tolman with the development of the WAVEWATCH model at Delft University and WAVE-
WATCH II at NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center in the early 1990s.
Subsequently a research program started under the auspices of the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP) to support developments in wind wave modeling has helped transition \ws\ from being a task undertaken by a single person or group to a community modeling framework. This program provided the resources to significantly expand the capability of the modeling system as well as move it to a community development paradigm. We are thankful to all our partners in the scientific community who have sustained this effort well past the end of the NOPP program. We are also extremely grateful to the larger user community who have tirelessly worked with us to  identify bugs and other issues in the model. 
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\strut \hfill WAVEWATCH III Development Team, February 2019

